Continuing with my six-part series of putting together stellar email campaigns, I’m going to look at specific targeting of your audience and the unique value you bring as a travel marketer. These ideas are based on HubSpot’s short but excellent report on five-star email marketing.

Segmenting your email audiences

More companies are looking to segmentation to make their email campaigns lead generation powerhouses. That’s because when you can write letter content that appeals to a certain group, you’re more likely to have those prospects read the email and click on your landing page links, increasing your chances for greater sales and revenue generation.

You might think dividing your mailing list up like this would be tough sledding. But it isn’t, especially when you can categorize your prospects with the help of email marketing sites like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp or AWeber. These services make email marketing a snap and help you to keep track of what’s working more efficiently.

It’s well worth your time to segment your list, as 39% of those marketers who do have increased open rates of their emails, according to HubSpot. Companies sending out customized emails also experience 28% fewer unsubscribed prospects.

So what are some ways that you, as a travel marketer, can divide up your list for awesome email campaigns? Here are some ways that the report suggests:

Demographics – As you might guess, this is the most basic kind of segmentation. You can divide your audience into gender, age groups, geographical area, level of education, etc.

Personas – If you have developed several profiles of your typical customer, write emails that address what these people want and care about. If done right, they can be a powerful strategy for your marketing.

Past buying – What have your customers bought from you before? Bike trips or hiking tours? Europe or Asia? Separate your customers using those criteria by targeting email content to those particular details.

Buying cycles – Tailor your emails to prospects initially coming into your sales funnel, to those who are closer to purchasing, and to those who have decided to buy.

Content engagement – What kind of information do your customers and prospects respond to the most – ebooks, white papers, ecourses? Send more of that type of content to those who download those files often.

Don’t forget about mobile optimization and text-only options for your emails. These details will enable your audience to view your emails on both their computers and devices without problems.

Value proposition – what makes your message appealing?

How do you grab the attention of your email customers, right away? Tell them what you’ve got to offer immediately in that first sentence. In other words, hook ‘em right away.

You’ll also want to follow these foolproof strategies:

Say exactly what your prospects will receive in your offer (a report, templates, etc.), relating as much detail as possible. Try to including what benefits the product will offer, how to access the content and how much it will cost.

Use statistics to demonstrate the problem your product solves. For example, “Social media strategy planning helps travel companies increase their audience engagement by 73%.” This will give you the proof to offer your social media marketing planning template.

Consider the right visual elements to enhance your message. Maintain a clean and uncluttered layout. Use call-to-action copy on your offer buttons. Place links throughout the email, not just at the end or in once place. Use bullet points to highlight important information (like I’m doing here!)

Next up: How calls-to-action, images and social sharing all help to make your emails shine.

What have you done to segment your email list, or create a value proposition in your campaigns? Share your thoughts below!

OK, you’ve gotten everything on your site optimized. Your social media marketing plan is humming along. The email marketing is all set to go. You even understand how to use Big Data (cool beans).

But have you remembered the most important factor in your travel marketing…the prospect?

The gap between you and your prospects

In this frenetic era of ever-changing online marketing rules and SEO changes, it’s not surprising that some companies have forgotten about what appeals to their audience…the ones they want to convert into buying customers.

The author, Michael Brenner, relates a story where he and his daughter watch a really awful commercial, which then leads to a discussion about what’s wrong with a lot of advertising out there. Brenner provides plenty of eyebrow-raising numbers to prove his point and deducts that emphasizing content, where storytelling is highlighted, will improve most marketing campaigns.

Here’s the nugget of their surprisingly sophisticated interaction (I’m not sure how old Brenner’s daughter is, but I think she’s more insightful than some CMO’s):

I told her that too often we create marketing that we think will make the people inside the business happy instead of what will make the customers happy. She pointed out that if it stinks, it won’t make the business people happy and eventually things will get better.

How true – so what can your do to create marketing that will resonate with your target demographic?

Through my copywriting education and training, I’ve learned that the prospect is the most important element in the marketing process is the prospect. One elegant strategy to reach this special person is to create a core buying complex, as it relates to your product or service. This will, in turn, help you develop better marketing strategies and material.

Now, that sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. The complex consists of three parts (courtesy of Mark Ford, aka Michael Masterson):

Beliefs: what do your prospects hold near and dear to their hearts?

Feelings: what are their feelings, what really hits them in the gut?

Desires: what do they really, really want?

These three elements are then woven together to create a picture of your prospect’s buying attitude, which can then show you how to approach your marketing.

So let’s use this practical adventure travel example to illustrate:

You provide luxury cycling trips to California’s Wine Country. Your ideal prospect is a professional middle-aged adult, college-educated, physically healthy and in the upper-middle socio-economic bracket. She loves fine dining and would love to know about wine. Finally, she would love to have a romantic but active getaway with her husband.

Here’s what her core complex might look like…

Beliefs: We’ve worked hard to be successful, so we should reward ourselves with a great getaway. Since we both love food and wine, the Wine Country would be one of the best places to go.

Feelings: We’ve both been really stressed out lately – work, kids, etc. I’m also more grumpy than usual, and feeling more tired.

Desires: I really want to reconnect with John now. I also want to feel good and get exercise outside.

From these answers, you can then create copy and a marketing campaign that really pushes the buttons of your prospects and leaves them more open to your message.

Remember to include elements of the core complex throughout your ads. A big no-no here is to start off with it, then drop it in favor of static feature-laden copy. You want to show that you’re there for them, helping them solve their problem or alleviate their negative feelings. You do that by reinforcing you understand where they’re coming from.